Board of Directors

Jenifer Fernandez Ancona, Vice Chair (@jenancona) spends most of her time thinking about how progressives can tell better stories about not only what we want the world to look like, but how we think we can get there. She is the Senior Director of Membership and Communications at Women Donors Network, a community of women amplifying their relationships and philanthropic dollars to create a more fair and just world. She is a co-founder of Simple Revolutions, creator of DemDash, a social channel for politics. Jenifer was a journalist at the LA Times before giving it up to get involved in politics in 2003. She lives in San Francisco with her husband and fellow organizer, Dan Ancona; their son, Marco and cat, Oscar.

Darcy Burner (@darcyburner) is Executive Director of ProgressiveCongress.org, honorary chair of the PCCC, honorary chair of More and Better Democrats PAC, a board member of the Council for a Livable World’s PeacePAC and a national board member for NARAL. The principal author and organizer of “A Responsible Plan to End the War in Iraq,” which was endorsed by more than 60 candidates for the U.S. House and U.S. Senate, she has been a candidate for Congress in Washington’s 8th District, a group program manager at Microsoft and a software developer at Lotus Development Corp.

Nathaniel Charny, Treasurer works as a union-side labor and employment attorney out of Rhinebeck, NY, representing national, state and local labor unions as well as plaintiffs in class action and individual employment discrimination, wage and hour and civil service matters. Nathaniel has served as Director of Legal Affairs for Professional Staff Congress/CUNY and was Assistant Counsel for the Writers Guild of America East. Nathaniel graduated with honors from SUNY Buffalo School of Law in 1991 and served for two years as law clerk to Hon. Alan N. Bloch, United States District Court, Western District of Pennsylvania. He has enjoyed appointment as Assistant Professor at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY, and Adjunct Professor at CUNY Queens College teaching courses on law and social justice.

Kety Esquivel (@KetyE) is Principal of Esquivel McCarson Consulting. Her work has taken her to China and Ethiopia with the UN. She’s coached executives and directed Latino outreach for a Presidential Campaign. She’s been the New Media Manager for NCLR, CEO for LATISM and VP with Ogilvy and Fenton. Kety was a founding board member of HPRA NCC and NLC. She’s the founder of CrossLeft and an author. She’s a former editor of BlogHer, a current blogger on the Huffington Post and a convener of TEDxAdamsMorgan. She has spoken at conferences worldwide including the World Bank’s Entertainment Education Conference and SXSW, as well as conferences in Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, El Salvador, Spain, Ireland and Canada. The Maynard Institute included her in their 31 Profiles of Women of Color in Digital Spaces. Kety graduated from Cornell where she served on the Board of Trustees. Her commentary has been featured in the WSJ, HITN, PBS, CNN, NPR, Televisa and Univision.

Linda Lee (@BCOgal) is one of the founding members of YearlyKos, the predecessor of Netroots Nation. Linda has extensive fundraising and marketing experience with The Nature Conservancy and the Longmont Humane Society, as well as a Colorado-based publisher. She is currently president of the board of a children’s theatre company and a volunteer area coordinator for the Boulder County Democrats.

Mike Lux (@ProgressiveLux) is the co-founder of Democracy Partners, a consulting firm whose mission is building the progressive movement. Mike is a frequent blogger on Huffpo, DailyKos, and Crooks and Liars. He is the author of the book, The Progressive Revolution: How the Best in America Came to Be. Mike currently serves on the boards of several organizations, including the Arca Foundation, Netroots Foundation, Americans United for Change, Progressive Congress and USAction. He is the chair and founder of American Family Voices (AFV). He also was a co-founder and a former board member of Ballot Initiative Strategy Center, Progressive Majority, Women’s Voices/Women Vote, and the Center for Progressive Leadership. He played a role in the early days of launching the Center for American Progress, Air America, and MoveOn.org. From January 1993 to mid-1995, Mike served as a Special Assistant to the President in the Clinton White House, and has played a leadership role on five Presidential campaigns.

Michael Moschella, Secretary (@mikemoschella / Facebook) currently serves as political director of the Truman National Security Project, working to train a new generation of progressive leaders to promote a smart, strong and principled foreign policy. Michael also volunteers as Chief Operating Officer of New Leaders Council, overseeing curriculum and selection for NLC’s 16 six-month training institutes. Prior to building progressive leadership training programs, Michael was a Democratic campaign manager with experience in MA, FL, CA and NY. He is a graduate of Cornell University and a native of Boston, MA. Go Red Sox!

Patrick O’Heffernan, Chair (@palm44) is co-host of the radio program Music FridayLive! and a music reviewer for a number of online publications, including The Hollywood Progressive. Formerly a political science professor at Georgia Tech and host of the syndicated program, Fairness Radio and “Uplinks” on NPR’s Saturday All Things Considered, he holds a PhD from MIT and has earned an Emmy and a Webby-Honors among other awards. He has published five books and a project he co-launched, the North Asia Nuclear Free Zone, was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 2005. He ran Eugene McCarthy’s primary campaign in Northern California and served as a staff consultant to Governor Jerry Brown in his first term. Patrick also ghost-wrote Representative Ron Dellums book , Defense Sense: United States Defense Needs and the Military Budget, and Mayor Henry Cisneros’ book, The Entrepreneurial City.

Joel Silberman, Vice Chair (@joelsilberman) is a strategic communications consultant/trainer preparing electoral candidates and progressive congressional leaders for public speaking and media appearances. A recipient of the Kos Media Fellowship during his tenure as media/ message strategist for Markos Moulitsas and Daily Kos, Joel’s new media clients have included Lt. Dan Choi, Jane Hamsher, Matt Stoller, Digby, Jerome Armstrong and Mike Lux. Institutional clients include: Progressive Congress, People for the American Way, GetEQUAL, GLAAD, Young People For, The Young Elected Officials Network, Working Assets, National Women’s Law Center, and Our Time (ourtime.org). Joel’s new company is Media Talent 2.0 Inc and he is one of the Democracy Partners (democracypartners.com). An award-winning New York theatrical performer/director, Joel brings show business savvy to progressive messaging.

Our Mission

Netroots Foundation brings together online citizens across America, injects progressive voices into the national conversation and advances the values of justice, equality and community in our nation’s politics. With technology, the information revolution and online communities changing the very nature of civic engagement, we seek to accelerate the understanding and support of this fundamental shift in participatory democracy.